I recently moved to the Kansas City Metro area thanks to a shift in territory with my husband’s job. We came from southwest Missouri and had a decent timeframe in which to move, so no pressure – right?

Wrong. So, so wrong.

Moving in general is stressful. If you’ve never had to REALLY move, then think about that one time you decided to move the junk drawer in your kitchen. Seemed great in theory, but then BOOM, total disaster.

Once we knew the move needed to happen, we decided we were going to buy a house since we had collectively thrown away over $100k in rent over the years (that in itself is a topic for another day). We wanted to own a house. To be able to put a hole in a wall if we wanted. And apparently, be responsible for any and all issues that come with it.

So the search began. We downloaded Zillow because, well, are there any other apps to use for homebuyers? Luckily, we had a friend/realtor in the area so we were all set. Or so we thought. 

I was still working full-time during the week so that left only the weekends to actually go tour houses. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were the perfect time to find houses on Zillow and add them to our “Saturday Search Schedule” as we called it. The only problem with that is, by the time Saturday rolled around, less than half of the houses we found earlier in the week were GONE. Off the market, pending offers, no longer available. And of course, our favorite ones were the first to go. Fast-forward 3-4 weeks of the same thing happening and our window to find a house, submit an offer, get accepted and finalize a closing date was shrinking by the day. Why wouldn’t people take our money?! We thought surely by offering over asking price or writing a nice letter to the owners would help. But, it didn’t. 

Until it did.

It was our third offer, the 395,290th house we had looked at. And all the stars lined up. FINALLY. Best of all, it was on Wabash Street (my fellow K-Stater’s will appreciate that). Sure, they sent us a counteroffer to make our hearts race for a second but things ironed out quite nicely without too much stress. We attempted to settle in but the first house project started quickly after move-in day: kitchen renovation (DUN DUN DUUUUUN).

Talk about a project that tests your marriage, family/friend relationships, and your DIY abilities. I’ll admit it, I had some doubts going in. “We will mess something up”, “I don’t want to make it worse”, “It’s going to take us forever”. BUT, we chose to take the positive energy and excitement from finally buying a house and threw it into the kitchen. We refinished the cabinets, painted them white #trendy, purchased new appliances…we had planned to buy new countertops as well. Then I discovered the art of painting faux marble onto your existing counters and thought “what the heck why not try – can’t get any worse than the horrific green formica counters we had. I went into the project with confidence and a “who cares if I fail” mindset. And boy did that work. Not to toot my own horn, but – toot toot – we now have some fancy faux marble countertops and saved a couple grand along the way. 

Last but not least in this string of good things happening; my job! If any of you had to search for a job in the midst of this pandemic – I. Feel. For. You. The uncertainty, the lack of opportunities, not finding what you want right away. It can be tough to say the least. However, I kept a positive mindset and knew the right thing would come along at the right time. Man was that the case – one interview and one phone call later, here I am.

Throughout these past few months, I realized that things never go exactly as planned. You get thrown curveballs and told “not good enough” or “nice try”. BUT if you’re reading this, that means you were given another day. Another house to look at. Another job to apply for. More doors to open, if you’ll let them. If you treat each day like a gift, you’ll enjoy the ‘present’ a bit more. Pun definitely intended.

All the best,

Bonny